Hermione arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast and made her way to the Gryffindor table. She began to pile some food on her plate when Ron arrived.

"Hey 'Mione." He said. "How come you look so tired?"

"I just forgot about something, and than it came back to me when it was late." She slurred, still not all that coherent.

"Are you ok?" Ron asked. "You never forget anything."

"I'm fine." She replied. Hermione almost felt guilty. Almost. She had completely forgotten about Draco in that empty classroom. She had spent the time that it took for her to get to her room thinking about her disappointment in having to wait so long until she could assist Sna - Severus again. It took her until she got into the privacy of her own room that she finally realized it. She LIKED working with him. She LIKED their conversations. Maybe she even liked him. She felt mentally challenged when they debated, she was productive in his presence without feeling intimidated when there were other students present. She got ready for bed, and was about to fall asleep when a rather irritating nagging voice wouldn't let her fall into the abyss. Finally, she realized what it was nagging about, and had almost bolted down to classroom she left Draco in, nearly getting caught by Filch. She hoped that he got out of it himself, or that someone else came along and helped him.

No such luck.

She opened the door to find him still tied up, just as she left him, still only in his boxers. But he was asleep, and looked rather cold. Waving her wand, his ties had loosened, allowing his limbs to fall free, and transfigured them back into his clothing. As soon as the restraints were gone, he curled up into a fetal position, and started to suck his thumb, not awakening.

'It looked so pathetically cute.' She recalled to herself, and smiled. Looking over at the Slytherin table, she noticed that Draco wasn't looking at her. She would pull him aside later. She woke him up, and was momentarily the target of uncontrolled Slytherin fury. No words were said, but the glare she received made her cringe. He took a couple of deep breaths, and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he smiled at her, and walked away with as much dignity as he could muster.

The smile was what had her worried.

She finished her breakfast and went back to the dormitory for her books. She was stopped by Draco at the doors, where he muttered something high pitched, and took off before she could respond. She did not even notice that Harry was not at the table.

~@~

Draco had no idea what he was feeling. He was caught in between being utterly pissed (no, not drunk - although I could use that later. . .or not. . .you'll never know. . .I'll just leave you thinking about that. . .drunken school orgy. . .complete with. . .yeah!), frustrated, surprised, aroused, kinda sleepy, a bit hungry, slightly peckish, a tad itchy, a tiny bit lazy, a. . .a. . .um. . .(DAMN! I ran out of other words for this!! Just you wait. This'll come back to bite me in the ass!). Anyway, just confused overall.

He had not expected Hermione to actually go through with it. When they played truth or dare, and she told him what she would do under truth, she did not lie. 'Damn Gryffindor bravery!' He thought to himself. He was like putty in her hands. 'Why does such a vixen hide under such an innocent exterior?' He asked himself.

He'd owled Potter earlier to meet him in the game room. This would not go unpunished. He would plan another late night rendezvous, and HE would have the upper hand. 'I know your strength now, danger Granger.' He began to giggle (Draco giggles? Neville glares and drawls? What next? Well, someone did mention cats and dogs in a review earlier.), which earned him a couple of worried glances from his housemates. He ignored it as he got up from the table and headed for his meeting with Potter. Hermione was at the door the same time he was. He looked at her, and muttered. "I'll get you my pretty!!" And took off.

~@~

Snape did not appear at breakfast that morning. He'd spent the time from when Hermione left until well into the early morning getting reacquainted with an old friend - Jack Daniels. The time spent in the head of Hermione Granger was one that was not entirely unpleasant. It was the thought of Neville Longbottom knowing his every thought that drove him to drink. He hoped at least Longbottom had gotten something good out of it (Yeah. We all know he did!!).

He woke up with a hangover, and headed for his bathroom for the remedy. Upon opening the cabinet, however, he found that he was all out. 'Damn it! I'm not going to cancel classes, but what am I going to do?' He thought. Taking points off the houses and giving out detentions were all well and good, but he was going to be one miserable bastard today. . .well, moreso than usual.

Than an idea struck him!

'Let's just hope this doesn't kill me.' He thought, as he made his way to the classroom to make preparations.

~@~

The seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors filed into the potions classroom, ready for another day of fun with Professor Dumbledore - who took over the class while Snape was unable to teach. Now, Hermione and Neville were never extremely popular, and their presence appeared slightly unwelcome when they entered the class. Their presence meant that Snape was back too.

And indeed he was. Armed with a hangover-induced attitude (HANGOVER POWER!!!!), Snape entered the classroom soon after, robes billowing after him. He approached the front of the class, willing the headache to stop throbbing for a few moments, before he began the class.

"No doubt since you are in your final year at Hogwarts, most of you will begin to engage in activities that you will later regret if you do not plan for the consequences." He said, but was thinking, 'One day you'll be like me and drink so much that you'll pray to the porcelain gods!'

"We will be brewing the hangover remedy today." He stated bluntly. 'Man, I'm sly! Oh yeah!' He was thinking. There was an excited murmuring throughout the class. Some of it in disbelieving tones. Snape? Helping us with something that we'll need in the near future? "I will not be preparing any potion for after the graduation feast. If you believe that your potion is satisfactory and will not poison you, you may take some after grading. You'll find the potion on page 333 of your text. Begin!"

The class got right to work. Many of them seemed quite determined to get this one right. (Wouldn't you?) Hermione looked up at the potions master, and gave him a questioning look. He didn't catch it, however. He was too busy trying to look in the room for the place with the least amount of light. 'Oh. My head!' If anybody in the class broke anything -

CRASH!!!

Snape's head snapped up, and he almost immediately regretted it. Catching himself before anyone noticed, he got up from his desk and approached Neville. "Mr Longbottom. . ." But stopped when he realized that the crash did not come from him. Pausing for only a few moments, he continued. "Watch the number of newts eyes you place in your caldron." He looked over the Gryffindor side of the room to find no evidence of anything that could have made that crash. When he looked over at the Slytherin side, there was a pile of glass in front of Goyle.

Snape stalked over to Goyle's table, leaving a very scared Neville Longbottom looking as if he were about to wet himself. "Mr Goyle, what do you think you are doing?"

Goyle looked about as scared as Neville. "I. . .I. . .I. . ."

"Yes, Mr Goyle. There are 25 other letters of the alphabet. If you put these letters together, they sometimes create words. Words strung together sometimes make sentences. I suggest you start practicing this skill now."

Goyle stood there looking at his housemaster. "I. . .I. . .I. . ."

"Detention, Mr Goyle. With Filch. Go to his office after class and arrange a time. I will tell him to expect you." Snape said. "Now clean up this mess." And he stalked back to his desk.

At the end of the class, everyone bottled their potions, and handed them in for grading. After the last student left, Snape went in search of Hermione's. When he found it, he measured it out, and took a bit. As the potion took effect, Snape sighed, "Ah! Thank Merlin for know-it-alls!"

~@~

"Potty? You here?" Draco called out as he entered the game room. It was during lunchtime that he was able to meet, and hopefully gather information.

"Yes, ferret. What do you want?" Harry asked.

"Well, I was wondering, what is Hermione's favorite food?" Draco asked lamely. He wanted to seem as pathetic as possible. Gryffindors offered more information if the person they were giving it to looked pathetic enough.

"Seafood Linguine. Why?" He asked.

Ignoring the question, Draco continued. "And her favorite dessert?"

Harry smiled. "Well, it used to be coffee cake, but now I think it runs more along the lines of banana splits. Why, Draco?"

"And what about music?" Draco asked, fidgeting with his robe.

"Draco, for crying out loud, tell me what this is about." Harry said, getting a bit angry that he'd been ignoring the question.

"If I tell you, will you tell me her favorite music?" Draco asked.

"Fine." Harry said.

"Well, I think I may like her." Draco whispered.

"Really? I had no idea." Harry said sarcastically. "What about the thing with Snape that you were going to set up."

"Well, screw him." Draco said. 'I think she might want to.'

"Right. I don't swing that way, Draco." Harry replied.

"Just tell me her favorite type of music." He sighed.

"Classical."

"Thanks." And Draco made his way out of the room, leaving Harry to shake his head after him.

~@~

Hermione entered the dungeons to work on some research for Sna - Severus. He was going to continue work on the potions accident, and would ask for her assistance, but needed some research done for the next set of experiments they would carry out. (Yeah right! He just wants to hide behind the caldron while he fantasizes about her! You know it's true. . .well in this story anyway!)

She entered his office, and found a pile of books sitting on his desk. "Good evening, Hermione." She heard him say off to the side. Looking over, she saw an archway that wasn't there before. 'Must be the entrance to his personal labs.' She thought.

He put down his ladle and approached her. "These books are from my personal library, if you could, find some more in the restricted section of the school library over the week. If you need any additional information, just ask." He said, turning back to his lab.

"Alright. Um. Sir?" Hermione asked.

"Yes?"

"What am I researching?"

"I suppose that information might be useful." He sighed. She smiled. "I want you to research the unforgivables, Hermione."

"Where do you want me to start? Do you want me to target any specific areas of those curses?"

"Where do you think you should start?

She thought for a moment. "I was thinking of starting on the magical components, such as the type of concentration needed, the elements of magic that they use, and than move onto how they affect the human anatomy." She replied.

"Sounds like a good start to me." Severus replied. Hermione nodded, and sat at his desk, beginning her task. Severus went back to his caldron, and finished his final experimenting. 'Ah. I was right. If the bat bladder were replaced with the lizard liver (AH! Aliteration! Again!), than the explosive components are neutralized, causing the same result, without the Longbottom effect.' He looked up to where Hermione was reading. 'Now a test.'

He took the ladle and put some of the potion in a vial. He waited until it was cool, and than drank it while staring at her. The potion slowly took effect, and he could hear the thoughts going through her mind as she read.

'The killing curse, the most deadly of the three, does not kill immediately. Although it takes only a few seconds for it to take effect, it targets the heart muscle, and causes the sac immediately below the heart to burst, which kills the victim almost instantly. There has only been 3 recorded cases in wizarding written history where the killing curse has been effectively blocked: Morkidan Stur in 1554, Marcus Longbottom in 1766, and Harry Potter in 1981. Although in the Stur and Longbottom cases, researchers were unable to pinpoint the exact reasoning for their survival, the Potter case was entirely different, and research still continues today.'

'Interesting.' Snape thought. 'A Longbottom survived the killing curse.' He continued to watch her for a while longer, until her thoughts began to change.

'Why do I feel like someone is staring at me?' She asked herself. Snape immediately stopped staring. He could still hear her thoughts, regardless. 'Snape and I are the only ones in the room. . .I hope.' She began to glance around the room. 'That's funny. I don't feel the eyes anymore.' Shrugging it off as paranoia, she went back to her research. Snape continued to hear her for an hour.

It was just before curfew that he approached the desk and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. "Hermione, it's time for you to head back to your dormitory." He said.

She nodded. "Did you find anything?" She asked. Not wanting to give it away yet - after all, this needs to be experimented with a bit more, right? - He shook his head.

"No. But I will continue the efforts until all options have been exhausted." He replied.

"You know sir, I was thinking. What if you replaced the bat bladder with lizard liver?" She asked.

Snape was slightly shocked, but tried not to show it. "I've given thought to that option, Hermione. I will try it soon."

She smiled and nodded, and left for her dorm.

Snape went back to his private rooms, absolutely giddy now that he had a new toy.



A/N:

I promise, I'll get tired of the alliteration thing. . .eventually.

This was a hard chapter to write. I mean, how do you follow the 'I want my mommy' thing with Draco?

And I'm sorry for not updating regularly. I just don't want to risk bursting out anything in the middle of class. . .it's happened. . .no, not like that.

Darkfire: I'm sure he'll eventually recover. All he needs is an outlet, which I may have the heart to allow.

Lana Riddle: Milk shake. . .hmmmm.

Herbie: No matter what anyone says, I don't think I could possibly more confused than I already am and have been for I don't know how long. You can try though. If anyone can screw with my mind, I must say it is an accomplishment.

Lucky_719: Damn. I guess I better put the whip away than. Don't worry hun, I know how that feels (not the whip, the other thing. . .stop staring at me. . .)

Morcades: Laugh. . .laugh. . .LAUGH!!!! Hee hee

Zoe: Yeah! You're right, he deserved it!

Jasmin flower: My parents tell me that all the time. . .Anyway, the potion can and will return!!! Snape with toys. Can you imagine?!?